Wednesday 14 October 2009
Students Help Test Emergency Services' Readiness
Forth Valley College students were among volunteers who took part in a mock major incident aimed at training emergency services.
Exercise Green Gate - which was held on Wednesday September 16th at the former Bangour Village Hospital in West Lothian - simulated the release of radiological material in a built-up area.
Organised by the Scottish Government, the mock incident enabled the police, fire brigade and ambulance services to train together with specialist decontamination equipment and allowed them to practice how they would deal with casualties resulting in a real-life event.
A total of 700 people were involved, 250 of them members of the public all drafted in to be casualties on the day - including 50 students from Forth Valley College.
Hannah Ritchie Forth Valley College Head of Care, Social Sciences and Early Education Department said:
"Students from my department and from the Science and Computing Department were invited to take part in the exercise. The scenario of a mass contamination meant that the students had to bring their swimming costumes as they would have to discard clothing and participate in a clinical decontamination involving a range of emergency service personnel.
"It will give them a valuable insight into what would happen in the event of a such an incident and will stand them in good stead as many of the students will go on to work in front line care, health and science based professions and might have to deal with such a situation."
David Connell from Laurieston, Falkirk, the new Forth Valley College Student Union President was one of those present at the exercise (pictured 2nd from right).
He said:
"I am studying for an HND in Applied Biological Sciences so this event greatly interested me. I think all the Forth Valley College students who attended found it a really worthwhile experience. Thank goodness it was quite warm on the day as there were points when we were standing in our swimwear waiting to be decontaminated!"
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill visited the site to meet members of the emergency services and observe the exercise.
Kenny MacAskill said:
"It is important that we ensure that Scotland is prepared to deal with the consequences of any emergency.
"That is why the Scottish Government sponsors a number of exercises every year to allow our emergency services to test their preparedness.
"Exercise Green Gate is giving the police, fire and ambulance services the opportunity to work together to rehearse their roles in the event of an incident requiring the decontamination of a large number of people.
"The exercise has been planned for months and is part of Scotland's National Exercise Programme, which is based around the four big risks that Scotland faces - terrorism, extreme weather, pandemic flu, and utilities failure.
"It is right that we regularly test our emergency procedures to ensure we are as well prepared as possible to deal with any of these at any point in time."
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